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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23050099">Upwards Trajectory</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NumptyPylon/pseuds/NumptyPylon'>NumptyPylon</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempt at Humor, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:00:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,148</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23050099</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NumptyPylon/pseuds/NumptyPylon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Onboard the Ruthless, Callum faces the challenges of the ship's rigging and his own insecurities. With a little help from his friend and a wise sea captain.</p><p>Fluff featuring Rayllum and shipper on deck Captain Villads.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Villads/Ruth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>108</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Upwards Trajectory</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanotherguy567/gifts">justanotherguy567</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What are you doing, Callum?” Rayla demanded, clearly not impressed with his initiative and can-do-attitude.</p><p>“Climbing? I thought, if I got up there, in the mast, closer to the sky-” Callum started. He had thought it was a pretty good idea. The rigging was basically a ladder right? But the give in the rope made the ascent a lot harder.</p><p>“That’s <em>not </em>climbing, that’s a precursor to falling.” Rayla interrupted.</p><p>“She’s right boyo.” Villads with a silent D chimed in.</p><p>“How can you tell?” Callum asked, a little embarrassed that his climbing skills were apparently so bad that they were obvious to a blind man. He pushed upwards a bit more, in defiance of their collective lack of faith in him.</p><p>“Ya shouldnae be pantin’ <em>that </em>hard, nary 10 feet off the ground.” Villads said.</p><p>“I’m not… really- known for my brawn.” He gasped, hating that he would have acknowledged Villads’ point regardless of what he had said.</p><p>“That’s not the problem. You have enough strength, you’re just using it wrong. Hardly using your legs at all and not leveraging your arms properly.” Rayla said, arms crossed and watching his technique critically. “Hook your elbows around the rigging, draw in close so you’re not supporting so much of your weight.” He did, just a little bit resentful that she was completely right, and his quaking arms immediately thanked him. “How did you not learn this in the creche? Is that a hu-”</p><p>“HUUUGE RELIEF!” He interrupted her. She <em>really </em>had to get better at not talking about humans in the third person, when she was around said humans. “It <em>is! </em>Thanks, Rayla!”</p><p>“Good.” She said, smiling. “Now, stay put, rest your arms, catch your breath. I’ll come up, and show you how to do the actual climbing part.”</p><p>“Aren’t you just going to spew chunks all over the deck?” He asked, trying for teasing, but a bit of genuine concern got through.</p><p>“Joke’s on you, I’m outta chunks to spew.” Rayla said, sing-song, already making it up to his level, much faster and more effortlessly than he had. “And that was your poem of the day.” She grinned as she reached him, poking his nose and then retreating out of reach before he could react.</p><p>“Good one lass. Too bad about yer stomach, or you’d make a fine sailor. Climbin’ skills and a sense fer rhymin’, and yer half-way there.” Villads commented cheerfully from down on the deck.</p><p>“Now, watch what I do.” Rayla said, demonstrating grip and position. “Find your balance, then reach up, only one hand should <em>ever </em>let go at once. At least at your skill level. Stay close to the rigging, use your legs to push up.” She showed him, and he followed. It was still hard, and his arms still protested. But it was doable, he was relieved to find. He had kind of a bad track record when it came to learning new physical skills, and he really hadn’t looked forward to Rayla joining the ranks of disappointed teachers he had left in his wake.</p><p>But this… was doable. Doable and even gratifying. They made it higher, high enough for his stomach to churn a bit when he glanced down. There was water underneath them too though, and if Rayla could do this, then so could he.</p><p>Even making it into the crows’ next was doable. Not graceful, definitely not, and at some point he got kind of stuck, his butt pointing straight up at the sky.</p><p>Rayla had waited until he made it, hovering just below, but as soon as he plonked himself down, she gracefully flipped over the railing to sit next to him. Smiling brightly at him.</p><p>“Do you have to be so flamboyant about demonstrating your superiority,” he quipped, grinning at her, just a bit half-heartedly.</p><p>“Superio…” Her smiling face fell a bit, and she looked away from him.</p><p>“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean that.” He didn’t. That was a mean thing to say to a friend, that you weren’t on the same level. And it was definitely not right for his feelings of inferiority to cause her hurt. But he also did mean it, in a way. She could do anything, and he could hardly do anything anymore. That was why he was up here, after all. He had to make that connection, make himself what he was supposed to be, like he had been for one blessed week before he smashed his conduit to the magic of sky.</p><p>But first, there was another connection he had to reestablish, he realized, glancing sideways at Rayla’s face, still turned away. He touched her shoulder gently. “Hey. I’m sorry. You’re way too much of a barfy dork to be superior.”</p><p>Rayla snickered, breaking through the closed off look on her face. She turned around and lightly punched his shoulder. “At least you have company. Dork.”</p><p>“Yeah,” he said, unable to keep a wide smile from spreading on his face. The silence was comfortable now. Rayla was not looking away anymore, but ahead, her warmth against his arm where they were pressed together in the small space.</p><p>There was a pleasant breeze against his sweaty forehead. The air felt just slightly… electric. That storm Villads was talking about? He peered at the horizon, maybe it was darkening a bit? They might have to start to think about not getting caught up here, in that case.</p><p>“Uh, Rayla? Could you show me what you just showed me again? Except the other way around?”</p><p>“You’re on.” She grinned at him, showing him how to exit the crows’ nest and climb in the downwards direction. Same principle really, leverage and position. Then she started climbing down herself, rather faster than he could follow.</p><p>“You’re not gonna… stick around?” He asked, a bit unsure. Rayla smirked at him from below, and he got his answer as she swiftly made it the rest of the way down the rigging, to where Villads was still standing.</p><p>“Nah, you don’t need it.” She shouted at him from the deck.</p><p>She kept watching him though, until his feet were safely back on sturdy plank flooring, before she went to join Ezran and Zym, playing tug-of-war with a little length of rope.</p><p>He felt a sturdy hand on his back, as he slumped over slightly, hands on his knees, catching his breath.</p><p>“Ya’ve got a good one there lad. A fighting spirit, a poet’s soul, reminds me of me dear Ruth, she does. Right down to a disposition so generous and kind, she just has ta share her dinner with the sea life, eh.” Villads clapped his back, and then stood up, turning his face to the sea. A blind man’s version of a wistful gaze, Callum thought.</p><p>“I don’t… <em>have</em> her, though." He somehow felt the need to clarify. "Rayla’s her own.”</p><p>“The good ones are, me boy.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading!  Wasn't originally gonna post this, it was a nixed chapter that was too light-hearted to hit the emotional beats I wanted it to in my longer story. But a dear commenter was looking forward to Villads, so I had to oblige.</p><p>Hope you enjoyed it! Feedback, even if it's negative, is always welcome, even on a silly little thing like this!</p><p>For those following my longer story, Downtime in Wartime, this fits into that continuity between chapters 11 and 12.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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